Mister and Mississippi — ‘Mirage’ (April 7 2017)→ A Dutch pop~folk group, Mister and Mississippi formed when its members, Samgar Lemuël Jacobs (vocals, percussion), Maxime Barlag (vocals, percussion), Tom Broshuis (guitar, keyboards), and Danny van Tiggele (guitar, vocals) met in their first year at the Herman Brood Academy, a music college in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The band’s self~titled debut album, Mister and Mississippi, produced by Reyn Ouwehand, appeared in 2013. ~ Steve LeggettLocation: Utrecht, The NetherlandsAlbum release: April 7 2017Record Label: V2 RecordsDuration: 39:15Tracks:01 Wolfpack 4:5902 Lush Looms 3:0303 The Repetition Of Being Alone 3:4604 Mirage 3:4505 Hal9000 4:0106 Pulsar 4:0907 Vices/Virtues 5:3108 Interstellar Love, Part I 1:0909 Interstellar Love, Part II 3:4510 Replicants 5:07℗ 2017 V2 Records BeneluxPersonnel:→ Maxime Barlag (vocals, percussion)→ Samgar Lemuël Jacobs (vocals, percussion)→ Danny van Tiggele (guitar, vocals)→ Tom Broshuis (guitar, keyboards)ReviewText:Kristof Beuthner→ Warum nur wenden sich so viele Indie~Folkies plötzlich dem von den 1980ern infizierten Synthie~Wave~Pop zu? Bear’s Den, The Head & The Heart und The Paper Kites haben es vorgemacht, jetzt ziehen Mister & Mississippi nach. Kalkül? Zufall? Fakt ist, dass von dem majestätisch glänzenden, feingliedrigen Folk, dessen Klasse das Quartett aus Utrecht um Sängerin Maxime Barlag zu einem kleinen Geheimtipp hatte reifen lassen, auf »Mirage« nicht mehr viel übrig ist. Zu knackigen Bassläufen und Wave~Keyboards wird jetzt weniger geschmachtet, ganz im Gegenteil trägt Barlag ihre zehn neuen Stücke mit einem neu gewonnenen Pop~Appeal in der Stimme. In den Charts~verdächtigsten Momenten erinnert das an Gwen Stefani auf Höhe der späten No Doubt. Das markiert zwar im bandinternen Oeuvre einen glatten Bruch, aber das ist auch gewollt. Gut, dass Mister & Mississippi ihre Neuordnung so stilvoll und versiert angehen. Das wird die alte Fanbase herausfordern, hierzulande aber vielleicht auch eine neue eröffnen. → http://www.intro.de/DOOR MARK DIERICK ALBUM16 APRIL, 2017 // Score: 6.7 → http://www.nieuweplaat.nl/album/mister-and-mississippi-mirage/About:→ It’s an almost hackneyed notion, the general life and times of many bands. The fortuitous debut album that strikes gold, the make~or~break sophomore effort and finally, that much~scrutinized third LP. Dutch art rockers Mister and Mississippi aren’t claiming to be the exception to the rule. Albeit from purely a musical vantage point, the band has — by all means — opted for a new creative trajectory. Third LP ‘Mirage’ employs a darker, heavier undercurrent of synths, bass and drums lurking beneath the group’s well~established sonorous majesty and crisp vocals. There’s a more ominous, acidic punch to the music’s structure, dynamics and growth, marking a radical stylistic shift from the palliative, simmering indie folk prevalent on Mister and Mississippi’s previous two albums. ‘Mirage’ finds the band avidly reinventing themselves in both arrangement and production, poised to become one of the more eye~opening entries of 2017.→ Mister and Mississippi recorded ‘Mirage’ during the summer of 2016 in their hometown of Utrecht. With ample time to spare, the band was able to root out stressful deadlines and explore their sonics with latitude aplenty. Mister and Mississippi enlisted producer Simon Akkermans as full~time collaborator over the creative course of ‘Mirage’, making a concentrated effort to downsize the songs wherever necessary. → And by doing so, instill even more emotional depth, fervency and sheer magnitude. A challenging goal indeed, one that took many hours, days and weeks to accomplish. Especially when it comes to synths in all shapes and sizes, the Kytopia studio is a joyous candy land you can easily immerse yourself in. At times, rampant experimentation with all those different synths prompted a creative cul de sac, but alternately, caused other songs to really come into their own. This trial and error way of working garnered many surprising results, and, more importantly, sparked the creative push needed to inject a fresh, piercing intensity to the songs. There are moments on ‘Mirage’ where the frigid, gloomy swells of 80s new wave and electropop shrewdly loom. Other times, the album lives up to its name, shifting towards a more transparent, limpid sound pallette without feeling contrived, predictable or tacky. → Within Mister and Mississippi’s body of work, ‘Mirage’ isn’t exactly a new chapter of an age old tale, but a new storybook in its entirety. The group’s decisively changed modus operandi also affected their riveting live performances. Look for Mister and Mississippi to flex their muscles with heavier riptides of sound and put greater emphasis on powerful, dynamic visuals to boot.→ A natural next step. Since their formative years, Mister and Mississippi have proven themselves quite a force after numerous club shows both at home and abroad, plus notable festival slots at the likes of Lowlands, Paaspop, Eurosonic, SXSW and Rolling Stone Weekender. To leave you with another commonplace notion in the life cycle of a band: you’re only as good as your last record. The previously collected Edison and 3FM Awards, respectively, have now been removed from mantelshelf.→ Indeed those are two beautiful memento’s of that promising debut and the laborious second LP. But with their monumental third one ready, the time has arrived for Mister and Mississippi to kindle that fire once again.Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mr__MississippiFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MisterandMississippi:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::